


Arctic Night

by Tallihensia



Category: Smallville
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-26
Updated: 2015-01-26
Packaged: 2018-03-09 03:03:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3233888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tallihensia/pseuds/Tallihensia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Lex goes missing... no, it's not one of *those* stories.  It has a rather different ending.  Just a cute little thing for Clexmas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Arctic Night

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a Clexmas Stocking Stuffer for [Clexmas](http://clexmas.livejournal.com). Stocking stuffers are just little things meant for general community gifts and aren't supposed to be too long. 
> 
> See the complete set of Clexmas Postings for 2014 at: <http://clexmas.livejournal.com/103333.html>

## Arctic Night

Superman was worried; Luthor was missing. 

Oh, it wasn't obvious – there were no reports of kidnapping, and Luthor Corp continued business the way it always had. But Superman was very familiar with Lex Luthor, and while Luthor had attended his company's pre-Christmas Ball the night before, he wasn't in his office today, working on the computer, following up deals made during the event.

A missing Lex usually meant trouble for Clark. Maybe not immediately, but it was sure to come. 

Clark did some cursory searching, but he didn't have time to do much; the city was in pre-Christmas celebration mood, and that included the hordes of robbers out to take other's gifts, drunk people fighting, and villains deciding that nobody else should be in a good mood and hatching plans to ruin it. 

It took all of Superman's powers, endurance, and patience to make it through the day. 

As the sun dipped down and havoc slowed, Clark few back to his apartment for a shower and a meal. When he was in, though, he was distracted by the blinking light on his answering machine. The machine beeped as he pressed it, but there was only silence on the other end. A silence that had wind whistling in the background. His cell phone, though, also showed messages, these in text.

"Meet me at your non-Loft tonight." From an unknown number.

And "There are bugs outside." From the Fortress' number.

Clark's eyebrows rose. He'd told the Fortress to be discrete about contacting him, yes, but that was still a little obscure. Combined with the first one... Clark's barn loft, which he'd called his Fortress of Solitude, which he hadn't told very many people that's what he'd called it. He hadn't thought twice about calling his alter-ego's home the same thing. Maybe that was, in retrospect, a bit of a mistake.

With a sigh, Clark looked at the timing on the messages, and decided to take a quick shower anyhow. He'd get the meal later.

Five minutes later, he was flying North. 

When Superman got there, he had to stop and hover in the air for awhile, just to figure out what he was seeing.

Luthor was there, yes. And so was a lot of strange equipment. And there was a big, round ball of... snow, placed in front and to the right of the Fortress main entrance. A ball about 15 feet in diameter. Even as Superman watched, Luthor manipulated something that looked like a miniature crane to lift another ball of snow from the machine that had formed it, to place it on top of the other. It was smaller, about 12 feet. 

As Lex lifted out and moved the third giant snowball, about 5 feet, Clark was more relaxed, yet much, much more puzzled.

He flew down and stood there looking up at the giant snowman in front of his Fortress. 

"Oh good, you're here." Lex climbed out of the crane and rummaged through a set of boxes. He handed it to Clark. "Here, work on these."

While Clark automatically put his hands out to receive the box, he was wary enough to x-ray through it first. He blinked. "Christmas lights?"

"And those four other boxes marked in the same way," Lex gestured. "Fly up and string them on your loft, but careful on following the contours – the place is phallic enough, we don't want to give your mom nightmares."

Clark had seen those pictures of decorated palm trees gone wrong, he didn't want to think of what all the crystals would be if he wasn't careful. "But---"

Lex waved a hand in dismissal, cutting off Clark's words. "I made sure the power would be compatible with what your loft could put out, don't worry."

That hadn't been what Clark was protesting. Regardless, he shut his mouth and flew up, stringing the lights around the Fortress, coming back for more when each box ran out.

When he was finished, he looked back at the snowman. Lex had gotten the buttons on, the eyes, the nose (that couldn't _possibly_ be a real carrot, could it?), and even a scarf. Other than the size, it was a very classic snowman. 

Most of the equipment had been tucked discretely around the side, behind a large snowdrift, where it wasn't immediately obvious. 

As Clark stood there and looked around, Lex came up to him, dressed in his warm layers of coat and scarf and even a hat. "Well? Turn it on."

Bossy, even in this weird Christmas gesture.

It was Arctic Night out, with darkness through most of the day. Clark had been seeing mostly with his super-vision. Lex had been using some sort of electronic goggles, but he took them off now.

Briefly, Clark had visions of the string of lights exploding, taking his Fortress down as they were turned on. Then he sighed and dismissed it. "Fortress?" he asked quietly.

The lights came on.

Rainbow glory, all over the crystal fort, reflected and bedazzling, with the snowman in front with its own spotlight on it. 

It was beautiful.

Silently, Lex handed him a mug, which he'd filled from a thermos he'd brought with him. Lex filled a second mug and then tucked the thermos away and sipped from his mug. Clark tried his. Hot chocolate.

Standing there in the arctic snow, drinking hot chocolate with his sometime-enemy who had brought this present to him, Clark couldn't think of anything but how good this felt.

"Merry Christmas, Lex," he said softly.

"Merry Christmas, Clark," Lex answered.

 

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